Parliamentary Replies
Single Session Primary School
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mdm Halimah Yacob, Jurong GRC
Question
To ask the Minister for Education if he will provide an update on plans to move primary schools to single-session and what are the lessons learned or benefits gained by schools that have done so.
Response
In 2010, seven more primary schools turned single-session, bringing the total number of primary schools on single-session to 83 or 47%. Another 5 primary schools will turn single-session next year. Most government and government-aided primary schools would move to single-session by 2016.
To allow all our primary schools to go single-session, MOE plans to build up to 18 new primary schools and enhance the infrastructure of up to 80 existing primary schools in phases. In the first phase, MOE will build 11 new primary schools and upgrade 28 existing schools. With the additional places in the new schools, the P1 intake of existing schools can be reduced to allow them to transit to single-session.
Schools that have moved to a single-session model have shared positive feedback about being able to provide a better environment to develop their pupils. By providing pupils with more time and space to interact meaningfully with their teachers, the implementation of single-session model helps balance the acquisition of knowledge with the delivery of skills and imparting of core values to our children. Teachers from all 6 levels also have a common time to collaborate and share best pedagogical practices.
Single-session school operation has also helped to minimise logistical issues in the scheduling of activities, such as the Programme for Active Learning (PAL). For example, New Town Primary School has been able to schedule 2 hours of PAL activities within curriculum time on two separate school days and it has sufficient facilities to support the allocation of the classes to participate in the different PAL activities during the PAL time slot.